The first presidential debate to be held Oct. 3 in Denver will focus [2]on domestic policy and will devote three 15-minute sessions to the economy, another to governing, another to the role of governing and another to health care.

It’s not surprising given the rhetoric over the last four years about the “top 1 percent” the lower “47 percent” and the general flagging economy with an unemployment rate north of 8 percent. (Related, a Pew study out this month [3]found that a full one-third of Americans describe themselves as “lower class.”)

The Denver Post looked into what was discussed at the first presidential debate four years ago between then-candidate Barack Obama[4] and then-candidate John McCain.

Like this year, the first debate’s moderator was Jim Lehrer, who asked then about how to stem the early hemmorrhage of the financial meltdown (McCain urged tax cuts, Obama urged some sort of federal infusion of cash, a stimulus.)

Denver political analyst Eric Sondermann[5] said the debates’ similarities show how much more the economy needs to improve for people to feel financially comfortable.

“The more things change the more things stay the same,” he said. “While four years ago we were just entering the financial meltdown, here we are four years later and we haven’t fully emerged from that crisis. I think it’s a sign of where voters are and candidly where the candidates are, which is almost obsessive focus on jobs and the economy and anything that has a dollar sign and a paycheck attached to it.”

Though foreign policy won’t be parsed at the first debate, Lehrer did ask McCain and Obama about Iraq and Afghanistan four years ago. Another question posed to both candidates: what to do about Iran’s looming nuclear threat.